Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

LONDON AND ROYAL INSTITUTIONS.

is accomplished, without a reference to the drawings which were shown in illustration of these subjects. Dr. Roget expatiated upon the beauty of the architectural contrivances displayed in these works of nature, and which are so plainly indicative, not merely of design, but of a most regular and studied plan of operations. The temporary structures, which are formed for the purpose of supporting the finer and more delicate filaments of the plumage during their completion, and which, like the parts of the scaffolding of a building, are removed when this purpose has been answered, were pointed out as striking proofs of the refined art which is manifested in the construction of the smallest feather. The curious mechanism was described, by which the barbs, which are affixed to the shafts of the feather, are made to clasp into each other, by the help of very minute fibrils, discoverable only with the microscope. It is remarkable, that in those birds which are not intended for flight, as the ostrich and the cassiowary, these fibrils either do not exist, or are so placed as not to be capable of performing the same office.

Dr. Roget in his fourth lecture observed, that touch being the most important of all senses, its relative perfection has a prodigious influence on the character of the animal which exercises it, and is the source of many of those intellectual differences which establish such numerous gradations in the scale of sensitive existence. These principles were applied to the estimation of the powers of touch belonging to the different classes, beginning with the lowest in the zoophyte tribes; such as the Medusa, which are nearly passive beings. Polypi and Ætiniæ are provided with tentacula, which by their sensibility and flexibility, and their power of elongation and contraction, are well fitted for the exercise of this sense. The short tubular feet of the Echinodermata, which have a structure somewhat similar, are organs of touch as well as of progressive motion. In insects, besides the feet, which, by their position and jointed structure, are calculated to apply themselves to the surfaces, and to different sides of bodies, we find special organs provided, termed the antennæ. Various circum stances pointed out by Dr. Roget, show that they are organs of a very delicate sense of touch, and that they are also employed as the medium of a variety of modified sensations. A great number of interesting particulars were related with regard to the importance of these organs to insects, their employment as means of mutual communication, as illustrated by the observations and experiments of

263

Huber and Latreille; and the total derangement of instinct consequent on their loss or mutilation. The acute touch of the Urachnoid tribe, derived from the mobility of their limbs, and tenuity of the cutaneous investment, was adverted to. The tentacula of the Mollusca are less perfect organs of this sense, except perhaps in the higher order of Cephatopoda. Fishes are in general but ill provided with the means of exercising the sense of touch. The uses of cintri, or barbils, near the mouth of some tribes, are imperfectly known, and the same observation applies to the remarkable organs placed on the snout in many of the ray tribes. The capacities of touch existing among the different orders of reptiles, birds, and the mammalia, were next made the subject of inquiry, and the appropriate organization peculiar to each was pointed out.

Proceeding in his course, Dr. Roget observed, that a natural alliance subsisted between the organs of taste and smell, not only with regard to the structure of the organs themselves, but also the qualities in bodies of which they give information, as well as to the nature of the perceptions they convey. While it is with their mechanical properties that bodies become the objects of the sense of touch, it is by their chemical qualities that they are brought within the cognizance of those of smell and taste. The chief difference between them is in the form, and not in the nature of the substances, on which they are exercised. While the membrane of the nostrils, on which the olfactory nerve is expanded, is adapted to the perception of certain substances in the state of gas, the organ of taste is fitted for the perception of the qualities of liquids only; but the mode of action appears in both cases to be of a chemical nature; and the presence of moisture in each organ seems to be necessary, in order that these actions may take place.

In all vertebrated animals the organ of taste is seated in the tongue, which is for that purpose endowed with a peculiarly modified sensibility. This sense is in quadrupeds of the highest importance, and its operation coincides with natural and salutary instincts with regard to food, which are so necessary to their safety. If any similar instincts existed among mankind in a savage state, they have long ago been weakened or effaced by civilization, and the original intentions of nature.

Dr. Roget proceeded to describe the anatomical structure of the tongue, which is developed in very different degrees in different animals. The mode in which

the action of its muscular fibres produce the various motions of the tongue, and which has been a frequent subject of controversy among physiologists, was explained. The vascular plexus immediately covering the skin, and through which the numerous papillæ observable on the surface are transmitted, was pointed out. Although these papillæ are visible to the naked eye, their form cannot well be dis. covered without the assistance of the microscope. It is to Malpighi that we owe the first accurate description of these parts. They are principally of three kinds: the conical or villous papillae, which are long and slender, and so closely set as to resemble the piles of velvet; the fungiform papillæ, which are interspersed among the former, and have somewhat the shape of mushrooms; and the calyciform papillæ, which are much larger in size than any of the former species, and are arranged on two converging lines at the back of the tongue, near its root. - These last are termed by professor Soemmerring the conical papillæ, while he designates the villous papillæ by the term filiform; so that there is a discordance among authors as to the names they apply to the different kinds of papillæ, these were pointed out; and various facts were stated, which prove that the villous papillæ are those exclusively appropriated to the sense of taste. Their whole organ is very abundantly supplied with nerves; but the actual termination of the nervous fila ments in the papillæ themselves, has eluded the researches of the most accurate anatomists. The rete mucosum of the tongue is destitute of the colouring matter, which, in other parts of the skin, gives rise to its peculiar hue. Thus the tongue is of the same red colour in the Negro as in the European.

SPITALFIELDS MECHANICS' INSTITUTION.

NEW members are rapidly joining this Institution, and nearly forty names have been added since our last number

went to press.

Mr. Wallis's lectures,

now in course of delivery, though highly valuable and popular, have not enough of novelty to warrant our furnishing an analysis of their contents.

A complete synopsis of the admirable lectures now delivering by Dr. Birkbeck at the London Mechanics Institution, will appear in this department of our next number: they will be brought down to the present week, and illustrated by explanatory diagrams.

[ocr errors][merged small]

divided as to the first application of the pendulum to horological machinery; this dispute may now, however, be considered as completely set at rest by the publication of the following document with which we have been favoured by Mr. Richardson of the Piazza coffee house. It is an impression from a brass plate attached to the great clock of St. Paul's, Coventgarden.

"The turret clock and bells of this church were made, A. D. by Thomas Grignon of Great Russel-street, Coventgarden, London, the son and successor to Thomas Grignon, who, A. D. 1740, brought to perfection what the celebrated Tompion and Graham never effected, viz. the horizontal principle in watches, and the dead beat in clocks; which dead beat is a part of the mechanism of the turret clock. Thomas Grignon senior made the time piece in the pediment at the east end of this parish church destroyed by fire, A. D. 1795. The clock fixed in the turret of the late church was the first long pendulum clock in Europe, invented and made by Richard Harris of London, A. D. 1641; although the honour of the inventtion was assumed by Vincenzo Galileo, A. D. 1649, and also by Huyghens in 1637."

This plate is here affixed by Thomas Grignon of this parish, the son of the above Thomas Grignon, as a true memorial of praise to those two skilful mechanicians, his father, and Richard Harris, who to the honour of England, embodied their ideas in substantial forms that are most useful to mankind'

Great Russel-street, Dec. 21, 1798.

JAMES FERGUSON.

A valuable orrery made by this distinguished mechanic for the late Lord Stanhope, was last week purchased by Mr. Haddon of Castle-street, for one pound fifteen shillings. Its original price was between fifty and sixty guineas.

At Belton Hall, in Warwickshire, resided Mr. Addison, who purchased it as a lure to the countess of Warwick, to whom he was then paying his court. The furniture used by this elegant writer still by his judgment, or procured as a tribute remains, and the pictures partly selected

to her feelings, yet ornament the walls, and occupy precisely the same stations as when he was wont to pause and admire them. There are several family portraits.

THE RENOWNED ST. GEORGE.

265

[graphic]

The cut we give is a fac-simile from the celebrated one done by Albert. Durer, which ranked among the finest productions of that distinguished artist.

For the customs of St. George's Day, see the CALENDAR.

ST. GEORGE. ST. GEORGE has been chosen in England and Portugal for their patron saint, and his combat with a dragon has been long established as a subject for sign painting great difficulties have, however, been raised about this saint, or hero. Some have called his very existence in question"; others suppose him only a symbolic device of victory; and finally, Mr.Gibbon has sunk him into an Arian bishop of Alexandria, and the rival of Athanasius; and says, at the close of the article, "The infamous George of Cappadocia having assumed the mask of a martyr, a saint, and a christian hero, has been transformed into the renowned St. George of England, the patron of arms, of chivalry, and the garter."

Those who wish to be more acquainted with the valiant deeds of this English, or Cappadocian knight, may indulge their curiosity, in the once popular History of the Seven Champions of Christendom, compiled by Richard Johnson, in the reign of James I.

THE HISTORY OF PARIS, FROM

THE

EARLIEST PERIOD TO THE PRESENT DAY. 3 VOLS. 8vo. WHITTAKER. Ir forms an interesting inquiry to trace the rise of a great city, from a mere group of huts, till it becomes the seat of a kingdom, adorned with magnificent structures, and the abode of a numerous and intellectual population. Such domestic history is, in fact, the history of human nature from a state of barbarism, recording its successive advances in industry, civilization, and the arts of social life. With the exception, however, of St. Petersburg, there are probably no authentic materials for writing a perfect history of any of the

[ocr errors]

European capitals. The origin of most of them is obscured by fable; we have no data for tracing accurately the progress of population improvements in building, architecture, and police regulations-the introduction of trades and manufactures and the changes that have taken place in the dress, manners, and customs of the inhabitants. Yet these are all points which a municipal history should include, together with such portion of the general history of the country as may be locally connected with the metropolis.

We are sorry to say, that the volumes before us, not only labour in some degree under the unavoidable desiderata to which we allude, but some others which we fear must be laid to the account of the compiler. The work is put together on the plan of our county histories, comprising a mass of uninteresting facts, which, to us at least, are quite unreadable. There is little of enlivening narrative; and though the local details may be interesting to Parisians, to strangers merely visiting the French capital, they are neither amusive nor instructive.

The work commences with an account of the establishment on the banks of the Seine of the Parisii, from whom the French capital is conjectured to derive its name and origin; and its history is thence traced under the Romans, Franks, and Capetian races, down to the present period. The remainder consists of historical and descriptive accounts of churches, convents, and monasteries; public buildings, palaces, literary, scientific, and charitable institutions; places of amusement, bridges, public gardens, cemeteries, manufactories, markets, quays, &c.; with statistic details of the population, annual consumption, mortality, and imposts. From this miscellaneous assemblage, we will endeavour to select a few details and facts which appear the most novel and interesting.

THE MAN WITH THE IRON MASK.

One of the great state secrets in the reign of Louis XIV. was the rank and origin of the mysterious personage under this designation. From the "Memoirs of the Duke de Richelieu," published in 1790, it appears he was the son of Louis XIII., and twin-brother of Louis XIV., both having been born on the 5th of September, 1638, one at noon and the other a few hours after. The king and his counsellors resolved to conceal the birth of the latter. A lady, named Peronnette, who was appointed to bring him up, was charged to give out that he was the natural child of a nobleman. When he had attained a proper age, this child was placed by cardinal Mazarin under the care of a gentleman whose name is unknown, and received a superior education. At the age of nine

teen, the young man, anxious to know his descent, importuned his tutor, who constantly refused to satisfy his curiosity.

It appears that, in 1666, he was conducted to the château of Pignerol; removed, towards the year 1686, to the island of Sainte Marguerite, where the governor, Saint Mars, received orders from Louis XIV. to fit up a room for him as a prison; and, on the 18th of September, 1698, was conveyed in a litter to the Bastile, having his face covered with a black velvet mask. In that prison he died on the 19th of November, 1703, and was buried in the church-yard of Saint Paul, by the name of Marchiali.

Orders had been given to put him to death if he ever made himself known. As soon as he expired his face was disfigured, lest he should be disinterred and recognised; the walls of his prison were scraped, and the ground dug up, for fear he should have traced some writing, or concealed some papers, which might have betrayed his birth. All his linen, clothes, and furniture were burned, as well as the doors and windows of his prison. His plate was melted down, and every other possible precaution taken.

The governors of the prisons in which he had been confined, and the minister Louvois himself, always addressed him with respect, never sat in his presence, and styled him mon Prince.

MIRACLES AT THE TOMB OF THE ABBE PARIS.

François Paris, son of a counsellor of the Parlement, relinquished, in favour of his brothers, all right to his paternal inheritance. He was a deacon whom humility induced to decline the priesthood, and, renouncing the world, he retired to a house in the faubourg Saint Marcel. There, devoted to exercises of penitence and charity, he employed himself in knitting stockings for the poor, whom he comforted and instructed. This simple and beneficent man died on the 1st of May, 1727. His memory would not have outlived the poor whom he succoured, nor his fame have extended beyond the circumference of his humble retreat, but for a concurrence of unexpected circumstances which have given celebrity to his name.

He died at the time when the Jansenists, dissenting from the bull Unigenitus, occasioned great troubles in the church of France.

The memory of Paris was cherished by these men, and they reverenced him as a saint. His tomb, elevated about a foot above the ground, in the small cemetery of the church of Saint Médard, became the object of their devotion. Among the devotees who came there to offer up their prayers were some young girls, who, either

THE HISTORY OF PARIS

affected by the religious controversies of the time, or previously subject to convulsions, were seized with them whilst engaged in prayer at this tomb. These convulsions were reported as miracles, and multitudes flocked to witness them. The first convulsions which manifested themselves gave birth, by sympathy, to others.

In the beginning of May, 1727, the number of actresses who figured upon this sepulchral stage, was not more than eight or ten; but the contagion made such rapid progress, that two years had scarcely elapsed, when more than eight hundred persons were seized with convulsions at this tomb.

The girls betrayed violent agitation, made extraordinary motions, leaped, turned round, &c.; they were called les Sauteuses, Others, who howled, uttered strange cries, or imitated the barking of dogs, or the mewing of cats, received the designations of Aboyeuses and Miaulantes.

These extravagancies were finally put an end to by the interference of the government. The cemetery of St. Médard was closed, and guards were stationed to keep back the multitude. The worship of the deacon Paris was interdicted, and several convulsionists sent to prison.

THE BASTILE.

Historians differ upon the period when this fortress was erected, but they generally agree, that when Charles V. was at war with the English, finding it necessary to fortify the capital, and to extend the city walls, he rebuilt the Bastile. Hugues Aubroit, prévôt of Paris, laid the first stone, April 22, 1369, and the works were finished in 1383.

The form of the Bastile was a parallelogram, two hundred and four feet in length, by one hundred and eight in breadth, to which two towers next the faubourg formed a projecting body. These towers appeared to have originally served for an entrance to the fortress, as the gothic arch of a door which had been walled up, the grooves of the beams of the drawbridge, and some statues of saints over the arch, were visible at the period of its demolition.

The Bastile was composed of eight large round towers, connected by massive piles of building, all of stone. The towers were forty-eight feet in diameter, and their walls, as well as those of the buildings which connected them, were ten feet in thickness. The height of the structure from the pavement of the court was sixtythree feet.

It was surrounded by a moat thirty-six feet in depth, and varying in breadth from sixty to ninety feet. This moat was bounded by a wall, against which, in

267

some places, houses had been built. In the interior there was a raised way five feet broad, which was called chemin des rondes.

The Bastile contained also dark and humid dungeons, basse-fosses and oubliettes, where the prisoners were left to die of hunger. At the time of its demolition, there appeared sufficient proof of the atrocious cruelty committed within its walls. Four human skeletons in chains were discovered, and transported to the cemetery of the parish of Saint Paul.

AMUSEMENTS.

Balls are a favourite amusement in Paris, particularly in the winter. There

rooms, adapted to all classes of society, no quarter of the capital in which ballare not to be found. In summer, the balls saloons erected in the Champs Elysées, are held in the public gardens, and in and the suburbs.

Concerts are frequent in all seasons, particularly in winter.

The

French, reviews are always attended_by
From the military character of the
a great concourse of spectators.
grand reviews and military evolutions take
place in the Champ de Mars, or the
Plaine de Grenelle. When a small body
the Place du Carrousel.
of troops are reviewed, they assemble in

The annual horse races of the department of the Seine are generally held in September, in the Champ de Mars.

CONSERVATOIRE DES ARTS ET METIERS.

M. Grégoire, bishop of Blois, a member of the National Convention, was the first who suggested the idea of forming a national repository of machines, models, drawings, &c., for the improvement of machinery and implements connected with manufactures, agriculture, and other branches of industry.

The formation of this establishment was ordained by a conventional decree, and a committee, of which M. Grégoire was president, was appointed to carry it into execution: but it assumed little importance till 1798.

Various changes were afterwards effected in this establishment. In 1810, a gratuitous school was formed, to afford instruction in drawing the figure, ornament, and structure of machines; in arithmetic, algebra, geometry, descriptive geography, the application of these various branches of the mathematics to timber and stone cutting, and the calculation of machines.

By a law, (October 8, 1798,) all persons to whom patents were granted, were bound to deposit at the Conservatoire des Arts et Métiers their original patents, together

« AnteriorContinuar »